Issue date
It was an eventful day in Palma for day four of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta with plenty of wind, waves and capsizes - and one enormous air carrier forcing the Race Committee to change course areas.
Despite not staying upright Peter Burling and Blair Tuke still have the overall lead in the 49er. None of the 470 divisions raced in today’s high winds meaning Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are still lying 3rd.
49er and 49erFX: Keeping their cool in the conditions Burling and Tuke (pictured above) sailed well enough to extend their leading margin in the 49er class and now sit 18 points clear ahead of the pack.
Blair Tuke reports in after racing; “We raced two races today in some really big breeze and waves, lots of carnage with capsizes everywhere.”
“In the first race we were leading all the way around and then capsized on the last downwind to finish, ending up 5th.”
“Second race we were 10th at the last top mark after an earlier capsize had dropped us back, on a crazy downwind to the finish we were the last team standing, taking the win. Looking forward to the final two days racing.”
In the women’s skiff Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech sailed home with a 15th and a 13th from their two races today. They’re now in 15th overall, up two paces from yesterday, with limited races remaining to make it into the top ten for the medal stage racing on Saturday.
470 Women and Men: There was no racing today for the Women’s or Men’s 470 fleets and both NZL Sailing Team pairs hold their respective positions – Aleh and Powrie in 3rd, Snow-Hansen and Willcox in 5th – eager to get back out on the race track tomorrow.
Finn: Spectacular and challenging racing for the Finn fleet has seen kiwi Josh Junior take a tumble down the standings after today. He placed 35th and 32nd and now lies 16th no doubt keen to produce some top results tomorrow for a shot at the medal race on Saturday in which only the top ten placed sailors compete.
Andrew Murdoch made a gain on the leader-board into 24th place after today’s racing.
Laser: Andy Maloney, who opened the day with a race win, is now the best placed of the three NZL Sailing Team campaigners in the Laser fleet in 10th place, with Sam Meech in 12th and Thomas Saunders in 13th.
Nacra 17: The kiwi Nacra team of Gemma Jones from the Murrays Bay Sailing Club, and Jason Saunders from the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club are lying 12th overall in the multihull event at the end of day four. They were 15th in the one race sailed today.
Women’s RS:X: Natalia Konsinska remains on track for a medal race start and now lies 9th overall in the Women’s RS:X class after placing 8th in today’s only race on the results board.
Racing continues tomorrow and runs over the next three days with titles and medals set to be decided in Palma on April 5th. The next ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta kicks off in Hyeres, France on April 16th.
The schedule for ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma…
31st March – 4th April: Qualifying and Finals Races
5th April – Medal Races
ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma; New Zealand’s standings after day four
Full results here
Women’s RS:X (56 boards)
9th Natalia Kosinska – NZL Sailing Team, RS:X Women (11, 1, 21, 27, 6, 11, 8)
Women’s 470 (47 boats)
3rd Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie - NZL Sailing Team (9, 17, 4, 5, 4, 2)
Men’s 470 (78 boats)
5th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox – NZL Sailing Team (9, 9, 11, 12, 2, 6, 6)
49er (79 boats)
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke – NZL Sailing Team (16, 1, 29, 2, 2, 2, 14, 1, 1, 5, 1)
41st Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski – NZL Sailing Team (13, 23, 1, 28, 27, UFD)
59th Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock (15, 25, 28, UFD, 28, 21)
49erFX (49 boats)
15th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech – NZL Sailing Team, 49erFX (15, 5, 8, 23, 8, 8, 11, 10, 15, 13)
Finn (92 boats)
16th Josh Junior – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (26, 6, 8, 4, 5, 9, 2, 35, 32)
24th Andrew Murdoch – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (7, 14, 28, 22, 6, 20, 32, 9, 24)
Laser (144 boats) no racing today
10th Andy Maloney – NZL Sailing Team (15, 13, 14, 1, 2, 13, 1, 12)
12th Sam Meech – NZL Sailing Team (14, 2, 7, 10, 1, 20, 8, 28)
13th Thomas Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (7, 11, 6, 3, 2, BFD, 15, 20)
71st Andrew McKenzie (32, 23, 12, 25, 18, 15)
Nacra 17 (73 boats)
12th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (27, 26, 8, 1, 13, 18, 1, 8, 15)
Coaches and support: Jez Fanstone, Nathan Handley, John Cutler, Hamish Willcox, Steve Erickson, Peter Evans and Will Howden
About the NZL Sailing Team
The NZL Sailing Team includes New Zealand’s top Olympic campaigners who have made the top 20% in their most recent (respective) class World Championships or pinnacle event and have shown consistency of performance over the year including other significant Championships.
Yachting New Zealand’s High Performance Programme is focussed on winning medals at the Olympics in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
NZL Sailing Team sailors all started out at grass roots yacht clubs around the country and with commitment, dedication and drive have risen to be world class athletes; they work hard in the gym, train long hours on the water and are supported by great coaches.
For more information
Jodie Bakewell-White
Yachting New Zealand Communications Manager
Tel. 021 709 065
Email. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
Links
Regatta website
ISAF Sailing World Cup website
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles
